1000 essay example: Organ Theft in Egypt

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Organ failure is perhaps the best explanation on the rising cases of organ harvesting. Organ harvesting is a surgical method that entails the removal of an organ from an individual with the intention of using it on another human being. Organ failure occurs when an individual suffers a medical condition, which alters the performance of vital organs in the body like the heart, the kidney, or the liver. Lifestyle habits can actually lead to the failure including alcohol intake and even smoking. For an organ to be effective, it must be matched with the recipient to reduce incidences of allergies. Medical practitioners around the globe conduct this procedure under very tight regulations. It is important to note that an organ cannot be effective if it comes from a dead body. In this case therefore, the organs have to be taken from a live voluntary donor; of course under anesthesia, or soon after a person dies away especially after brain failure. Sinai desert is anonymous with the issue of organ harvesting and the victims are poor Africans trying to cross over to over nations especially Israel. Organs cost thousands of dollars and the business is quite lucrative for the Bedouin tribe. On average, a kidney costs between $2,000 and $6,000. The essay seeks to highlight the factors that lead to the organ harvesting In the Sinai desert and the effect it produces.

What leads to the organ trafficking

Lack of regulation

As the name suggests, the Sinai desert is quite a deserted place and the people there have minimal, if any, regulations guiding them. As earlier stated, organ trafficking mostly occurs among the Bedouin people as they try to find their means of survival. The illegal donor traffickers mostly have long waiting orders from sick patients and they are always under pressure to meet their targets (Bradley). Some conniving doctors link up with the criminals and they help in the harvesting at a high fee. The fact that the Sinai desert is far off the city with no administrators makes the place viable for such inhumane acts. Human trafficking is quite prevalent in Egypt and the victims are always ripe for the operation. The victims are taken mostly to some enclosed place, stripped off their properties before being subdued to the act. Under amnesia, the victims are then operated on and they are left to die in some deep dry wells. Mobile clinics from some private hospitals in Cairo set up camps in the desert where they then conduct the said tests. Usually, the said doctors conduct some matching tests and the healthiest people are chosen among them. The common organs in this case are the cornea, heart, liver and the kidney.

Corruption

Egypt passed a bill on February 2010 terming organ trafficking, as illegal but still some vague official always seem to get away with it. The bill outlawed financial rewards for the organs and instead made a government list or the organ recipients who then had to follow the right procedures to receive the organs. According to the the Huffington Post, people crossing the Sinai desert are smuggled off their properties and they are coerced into either giving up money or their kidneys. According to Bradley,in most incidences, the victims do not have any cash with them and that is how they end up losing their organs and inevitably their lives. Some of the donors freely give out their organs as a means of making money for survival. In some places, the poor people give off their kidneys to shylocks as collateral for their loans. The organs are hence sold to the wealthy needy citizens who enjoy life at the expense of these poor people. Corruption also makes it hard for the relevant authorities to identify the mastermind behind the drug trafficking and put them up for trial. Corruption is also apparent in Egypt because it is clear that the organs cannot survive for more than 48 hours and most are transported via air to places like America Australia or Europe where they are sold at very high prices. This automatically shows that some officials are in support of it.

Human trafficking

Human trafficking best explains the high rate of organ trafficking in Egypt. According to Pleitgen and Fadel Fahmy ,refugees fleeing from their home countries are often smuggled and put in bondage where they face torture and even hard labor at no fee. The refugees mostly come from countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea, or Sudan where war is prevalent. Women in this instance are even raped if they failed to come with the huge sum of money that the abductors demand for. As earlier pointed out, most of the refugees seek their solace in Israel through the Sinai desert where they meet their fate. Organ trade continues to be a very profitable venture among the Bedouin and it is even better than drug trafficking and prostitution. In this regard, it makes more economic sense to steal people’s organs for sale and turn into millionaires.

Effects of Organ Theft

It is evident that illegal organ trafficking has encouraged slavery in the Sinai desert and other vices. The Bedouin people are willing to pay any amount to have people who they can turn into slaves and later steal the organs from them (Stranded In Sinai: Stripped Of Home, Refuge, And Organs”).A study conducted shows that some of the slaves have to undergo inhumane torture including their bodies being burnt and intensive hard labor. Most of the victims are coerced into giving their organs and they are left to die after the procedure because they lack the right mechanisms to prevent death after the surgery. The loss of lives can be evidenced by the heap of bodies in the dry wells, which goes to show just how people can become reckless with life.

While indeed some people donate their organs because of poverty, the vice does not help in changing the situation. According to the world health organization, most of the donors end up suffering some health complications after the operation meaning that in the end , they end up using the money earned to seek for some medical attention(“WHO | The State Of The International Organ Trade: A Provisional Picture Based On Integration Of Available Information”). In addition, the organ theft promotes poverty because; the donors are unable to sustain jobs after the operation meaning that it ends up doing more harm than good. Most of the complications arise from the fact that the clinical procedures conducted are not right leaving the donors with infections to deal with.

To conclude, there is a need to deal with the rising cases of organ theft in Egypt. The world health organization should merge efforts with the Egyptian government to educate the mass on the dangers of organ trafficking. The people behind the organ theft ought to persecuted to discourage such acts. The issue of human trafficking has contributed so much to the organ trafficking and therefore measures should be put in place to ensure that the pioneers are brought to book.